Founder, Hyperspace and NeuRal AI, Dr Oluseyi Akindeinde, has noted that the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on photojournalism among other creative fields of human endeavours is tremendous no doubt but not a big threat to photojournalists that can deploy tech to advance their professional undertakings.
Dr. Oluseyi, who was a guest speaker at the 2024 annual symposium and award organized by Photojournalists Association of Nigeria (PJAN), Lagos chapter, while speaking on the theme: “Artificial Intelligence and Photography,” noted that the gathering was a futuristic one as technology developments in the next 10 to 15 years would be handling most human tasks, and that essentially requires every professional to be tech-savvy.
Oluseyi said “Technologies are usually change makers. When technology that can do something faster, better and cheaper than the human being is increased, it is important to talk about how artificial intelligence is going to affect us.”
Oluseyi, who chose to make his presentation in an interactive manner, noted that “You know, photography, because the way it is going will be hugely influenced by technology. Number one, artificial intelligence itself is not only a theory, something that you see; followed by photography, also something that you see. What really is artificial intelligence?”
According to him, “Artificial Intelligence is simply intelligence that is done with technology. So what has happened is that you’ll be hearing about models that you can use to write and automatically generate stories. You know, you can even generate headlines. They can generate reports for you,” adding that over time technologists have gathered all human activities on internet, and that people could now do their imagination without necessarily be the one because AI itself is not human.
Oluseyi then took the gathering through 12 AI generated images, surprisingly enough the photojournalists were unable to distinguish between AI generated images and real images.
While the photojournalists agreed that 7 of the images shown were taken by photographer and 5 others were manipulated, Oluseyi shocked them all when he revealed that all of the pictures were actually generated by AI.
“So the fact that, as professionals, you could look at some of them and they actually look real, you know, it just shows the true test of the power of AI. If professionals with years of experience can actually look at a picture and see seven out of 12 as real when all of them were generated by AI, simply means that with this technology in the next five years we may not need cameras.”
He concluded that the issue of copyright ownership would be largely eroded because could lay claim to the ownership of an AI generated picture because a dedicated site to verify the originality of the images would effortlessly debunked the claim.
Chairman, Photojournalists Association of Nigeria, Lagos chapter, Mrs. Alaba Damola, said the symposium was put together to reposition “our mind, strength and efficiency to move association forward. As I stand before you, we prioritize the question of our members and enhance our collective ability through a dedicated association website. Less than six months I am pleased to inform and report that most of my campaign promises have been fulfilled. The creation of our website mark a significant leap forward towards providing a unified platform to showcase our work, foster collaboration and amplify our voices within and beyond.”
The creation of association’s official website, according to her marked “a significant leap towards providing a unified platform to showcase our work, foster collaboration and amplify our voices within and beyond Nigeria. The welfare of our members remains at the heart of my leadership. I will also continue championing initiatives that promote the well-being of our members and their professional goals.”
She added that PJAN would be embarking on a bold and impactful project that seek to equip young photojournalists with the skills and tools necessary for self-reliance, the association “envision collaborations with the government agencies and academic institutions like the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) and by involving politicians and other stakeholders. We aim to secure sponsorship for training and capacity building for our members to enable them succeed particularly in this period of digital technology.”
Dignitaries at the event included His Royal Majesty, Oba Egbeyemi Oladimeji, Ologba of Ogba, Lagos; Chairman of National Association of Women Journalists (NWOJ), Dr. Adeola Ekime, Dr Olusola Akeredolu, Head, Photography Department, Yaba College of Technology ably represented by Dr Boye Ola, Deputy Provost, Nigerian Institute of Journalism; Mr Francis Komolafe, former Photo Editor, Vanguard Newspaper and Demola Akinlabi, former Photo Editor, National Mirror, who is also the immediate past Chairman, PJAN Lagos.
